South Birds and Dragons
by Nekoi Kurona
Summary: This shouldn't be happening! It really shouldn't... But it was. He became a South Bird.
1. Blessing or Curse

**Ch.1: Whether your fate is a blessing or a curse is entirely up to you to decide.**

CHOOOOOO—

_Ugh… Be quiet… I'm trying to sleep…_ He grumbled at the loud noise. What was it even supposed to be? He had traveled the seven seas and seen many surprising things, but what was that noise?

CHOOOOOO—

_ARGH! SHUT THE HELL UP! _Immediately, he swiped at the sound, but only felt air. Irritated that he missed whatever the source of the noise was and that he couldn't just fall back asleep anymore, he opened his eyes and rubbed them with his hands…

…_Eh? EH? His hands?_

He looked down at a purple and green wing. Slowly, he flexed his 'hand' and then swayed it left to right and then slapped himself on the face…

…_Ow, so this isn't a dream! What the hell happened while I fell asleep?_ _And why the hell did my hand become a purple and green wing? Ridiculous!_

Fully awake from his odd circumstances, he examined his surroundings to see if there was anything to help him remember. Big branches, leaves, feathers, disgustingly big bugs, weird birds pointing south… Wait, what? They're pointing south?

He burst out with laughter at them.

_ChoooChoooChooo, they're pointing south! What losers! Wait— Did I just go 'Chooo'?_

He touched his face and realized that he had a beak. A beak… No way… Not possible.

Quickly, he whipped his head back up at the weird birds pointing south. His face paled as he observed the purple and green wings that they had… They had large beaks too. And as he slowly shifted his eyes down, he realized that he was perching on a tall tree. Shit. No way. Not even in the Grand Line…

Okay, he had to calm down. He inhaled a deep breath and felt the wind. Ah, he felt an urge to turn east to his home… As always, he tried to turned his head to face the strong wind and where his family was resting peacefully.

The reason why he was leading an army to overthrow the corrupted government and bring peace to the world… To them…

Smiling to himself at the thought of family, he tilted his head east but, after a while, began immediately turning south.

Eh?

Once again, he tried to face the direction of his beautiful home. But failed.

And once again, he began panicking. He tried over and over. At his weird antics, the birds who faced south laughed at him.

CHOOOOOO—

…_Don't tell me…_

He widened his eyes at the sight before him. All the birds were pointing south… The direction that he could only point to currently.

Impossible…

A voice in his mind reminded him, _nothing is impossible in the Grand Line._

But this is… too… much…

Then, he remembered what Iva had told him the other night. About this funny bird on the island that they were currently docked on… Shit… Somehow, just somehow…

He, Revolutionary Dragon, became a South Bird.


	2. Flying Free Without Worries

**Ch.2: Everyone should learn how to fly without worries.**

Just then, there was a loud rustle of leaves as all the South Birds landed closer to Dragon. The one standing closer to south, which he assumed to be leader, cawed out,

"Dragon, you are blessed to become one of us after saving our important underling, the Hercules Beetle. Consider this as our thanks." A vein popped out of Dragon's forehead,

"I didn't want to become a South Bird! This is a curse! And I don't remember saving any damn Herucles Beetle! Ahhh~! Turn me back!" The bird chief looked at him dumbfounded,

"…You don't want to be a South Bird?"

"NO, I DON'T!"

"…"

"…"

"…You don't want to be a South Bird?"

"I ALREADY SAID I DON'T!"

"?"

"YOU'RE TOO DAMN SLOW, BIRDBRAIN!"

…

"So how can I turn back? I have a dream to accomplish." After exploding all his anger and confusion on the featherbrains, he felt calmed and relaxed again. After all, if there's a way to change, then there's always a way back… Right?

"Sorry, but we don't know how."

"Eh?" He repeated,

"We don't know how."

"Then how did I turn into this?"

"We prayed to our god, Notus."

"Notus?"

"Yeah, he's the South Wind God. We worship the south and guard his forest from outsiders. In exchange, he grants us the gift of controlling bugs with our voice."

"Hmmm… Then where is this Notus?"

"He is in our hearts." Dragon slapped him with a wing and the bird chief chuckled, "I was just kidding! He's in the heart of the forest."

"The very center?"

"Yeah, I can take you there if you want." With that, chief unfurled his wings and flew. Dragon blinked as he realized something,

"Oi, wait! I don't know how to fly!" Chief gaped at him incredulously,

"You… You don't know how to fly?"

"I used to be human, remember?"

"Oh, right! Humans don't have wings! That's so sad…"

"Shut up. Wings aren't the world. We have knowledge and many things besides that."

"But do you have freedom? To freely fly in the sky, leaving behind all worries?" Dragon blinked. Okay, maybe birds were smarter than he thought.

He paused and thought about the world and mankind and the word freedom. Slowly, he said,

"Many of us have freedom… But the ones who can truly roam freely without worries or a single care are the pirates."

"Pirates?"

"Yup, the pirates. They're people who do whatever they want. Laws, government, or society doesn't bind them… All they answer is the calls of the ocean and maybe their nakama."

"Sounds like interesting people. Are you one of them?"

"Nah, I'm a Revolutionary. I will change the world and bring a sky that anyone can fly freely in. Not just pirates. But everyone…" _Especially them. Them that are waiting for me in the East._

"Then, you really need to know how to fly! It's the greatest feeling, leaving the world to have fun!"

"…Yeah."


	3. Even Gods Can Be Lazy

**Ch.3: Even Gods can be lazy.**

After about a million tries and a million fails, Dragon was finally able to fly. He was still not used to the idea of wings and making a fool of himself, flapping about like some chicken though. He wondered how Bird Zoans felt when they got their ability. Which reminded him, how did this Notus bird turn him into a South Bird anyways?

Devil Fruit? Nah, Dragon shook his head at that ridiculous thought. There were only 100 Devil Fruits in the world… Why would there be one specifically for turning people into South Birds? It's absolutely ridiculous.

Impossible.

A voice in his mind reminded him, _nothing is impossible in the Grand Line._

He shook his head again. This was clearly impossible. How could it be possible?

The voice in his mind came back, _sure it could. Anything could be possible._

Dragon must be delirious. He was talking to himself. He heard the voice in his mind chuckle and felt himself snap. Oi, voice, shut up or I will shut you up.

The voice replied all-knowingly, _you can't shut me up. That's impossible._

…Didn't you just say that nothing is impossible?

The voice snorted, _well, there is an exception to every rule, isn't there?_

With that, Dragon mentally shredded the voice and turned back to reality.

Currently, he was flying high over the forest. He had to admit that it really was a nice feeling to fly high above the world. Peaceful breezes of wind teased his feathers and cooled down his soul as his body basked in the sun's warmth.

"Cool, right?"

"Yeah, it's pretty nice… If I just forget about the training…" Chief looked at him and chuckled in remembrance,

"That sure was interesting. I never thought that I'd see an adult South Bird fall out of the sky multiple times." Dragon sighed; he couldn't argue with that one,

"Humans weren't meant to fly. Well, literally, at least."

"But you're good at it. I think that becoming a master of the skies after a few tries is something to be proud of."

"Define few." Chief paused as he thought about it and once again started laughing,

"You caught me~" Dragon considered whacking him, but the old bird suddenly started flying down, "We're here!"

Dragon followed and the two birds plunged down to the heart of the forest. He grinned as he was finally going to return back to his friends and continue on with his life. Slowly, they went towards a bright forest clearing filled with lots of forest fruit and a big gigantic South Bird. Chief hopped before it and did a mock bow with his wings,

"Notus-sama, it appears that we made a mistake. May you please turn Dragon-san back to normal? He wishes to be human again." Notus lazily peered at Dragon,

"No, it uses too much energy to work my miracles. But if you present me a bunch of high-quality fruit, then I might be able to help."


	4. Don't Stop Until the End of Your Dream

**Ch.4: Don't stop until the end of the dream.**

"Isn't he just being lazy? He already has a bunch of fruit there! Why do we have to get some special ones for his big stomach?"

"Cuz we just do. Look… Do you want to change back or not?" Chief looked back at Dragon, who sighed,

"Yeah… Yeah, you're right. Though I seriously thought that he would just change me back."

"Hey, the world of birds and the world of humans aren't that much different. In the end, it all comes down to greed and survival of the fittest."

"I guess… But birds seemed more peaceful when I was a human, always chirping and lazing around." Chief pecked him on the head,

"Well, sorry for being a bird from the start."

"Hehe, ummm… Sorry? But the point is… Why do we have to go on some stupid adventure for fruit? And what is it that we're even getting?"

"Oh. You're getting it. I'm not tagging along this time. There's a dragon guarding the damn fruit and I don't feel like dying yet." Dragon gave him an odd, disbelieving look,

"Dragon? Don't be silly, dragons don't exist."

"Oh, I got it. You don't believe me. Well, you know what; I'm not talking to you anymore since Dragons do not exist. Bye." Chief turned back and was about to dramatically leave when Dragon immediately pulled him back,

"Sorry; I'm sorry. Dragons do exist! They exist! Now, can you tell me what it is that I'm going to attack a dragon for?"

"Ambrosia. It's a very rare and sweet fruit that extends the consumer's life span and tastes delicious. Back in the old days, we used to eat it once in a while on happy occasions, but now, there is a very scary dragon guarding it…"

"Seriously? Like a real dragon? Fire-breathing, gigantic, storm-causing dragon?" Chief tilted his head in thought,

"Not fire-breathing or storm-causing but it was gigantic and powerful! And smelled seriously bad like rotten eggs."

"…And I'm going to face it in this small South Bird body? Just for ambrosia or whatever it was?"

"Yup."

"Well, damn. Just damn…" Dragon deeply inhaled and exhaled, standing straight ahead towards the area, "But I'll do it. I can't stop here. I have a dream to accomplish."

"To become human again?"

"Nah, to deliver a new age of freedom to the world… and to my family. Until then, I will keep moving forward without regrets."

"In that case, I'll come with you. This will be interesting. I never thought that I'd live to see the day when a bird would take on a dragon, a hundred times bigger than it. But seems to me that you have the heart of a dragon; so immense and so powerful. And a determination so strong that it seems almost magical."

"It'll be a tough ride until the end."

"But one worth seeing."

With that, the two flew to the sky and towards the monster's home containing ambrosia.


	5. In the end, all people are alike

**Ch.5: In the end, people are all alike.**

The two slowly peeked out their heads above the bushes and looked around for any predators. Which was quite hard to do since they could only face south.

"All clear. So where's the damned thing?" Chief pointed to a giant tree where a few fruit lied,

"That should be them. But where is the dragon?"

"You sure you weren't dreaming?"

"I wasn't. You sure we aren't dreaming?"

"…Does this feel real?" With that, Dragon slapped him with a wing. Chief blinked,

"Okay… So maybe I was wro—"

_KaaaaKaaaaKaaaa_

A giant gust of wind blew them a few yards away as a loud screech echoed within the forest. The South Birds looked up in time to see a large crow soar through the air and perch near the fruit. Dragon stared at the monstrosity. The bird was many times larger than him, probably even many times over him as a human. Its eyes were crimson red like the blood dripping from its beak.

"…Is that the dragon?"

"…I think so…"

"…"

"…"

"Isn't that just an oversized bird?"

"Couldn't be helped! You saw how big it was. Perfectly easy to make a mistake."

"So how should we get the fruit?"

"Well… A, you become decoy and I get it. B, you beat it somehow. C, you steal it without it noticing."

"Oi, you do some work too."

"It's your mission. Why should I help?"

"…A. It's the only thing that'll probably work. But you better be fast."

"Don't worry; I'm known as the Violet Bullet." Dragon studied the old bird in front of him,

"…Whatever, just get it."

"Hey! It's true! They really do call me the Vi— Hey!"

Dragon flew off to the crow, intensely studying the situation. He was a newbie when it came to flying, he was much smaller in size, he could only face south, he was weaker… Okay, how was he going to do this again? Should he just call quits while he could?

In the corner of his eye, he saw the ocean lying in the East. Nah, he couldn't call quits. He was going to beat the crap out of it and go back to his own large enemy. He had a fight to fight in another place. With a greater being. He couldn't just stop here.

With more determination, he glided through the sky and tackled the crow in its side. BAM! Loud shockwaves resounded throughout the forest and the crow angrily whipped its head at the little bird. With a loud cry, it quickly brought down its enormous beak to peck the inferior, arrogant being to death. Dragon quickly dodged out of the way and clawed the giant in the stomach, ridding the thing of its feathers. With that, he flew away to lure the thing out of its spot and grant Chief some time to take the goddamn fruit and leave.

Once he was in the air, he sliced through the air to gain enough distance away from the monster. Said monster unfurled its wide wings and followed, easily catching up to Dragon. It cawed to the world again, causing many more small birds to soar in the air and fly away from the fight in instinctive fear. Dragon could feel his heart beating fast and the adrenaline flow in his bloods. He wondered how the hell he was going to do this.

And his head hurted like hell. Flying north when he could only face south was not a good idea. Why did South Birds only face the south anyways?

Ah.

Then, he remembered a fact that was buried deep within his brain and laid forgotten. Something he had overlooked and didn't think about. Chief's words flashed in his mind,

"_We worship the south and guard his forest from outsiders. In exchange, he grants us the gift of controlling bugs with our voice."_

The gift of controlling bugs with our voice…

If Dragon wasn't too busy with flying away from the chasing bird and dodging its attacks in midair, then he would have face-palmed himself for being stupid. There was that method. That method that would have made everything easier from the start…

After all, how many bugs were there in the forest?

Quickly, he loudly shouted in the forest, calling for reinforcements to attack the crow.

And immediately, millions of bugs emerged out of the forest and covered the crow. Soon, the ground, plants, and trees were emptied of the things and the crow screamed out loud in fury. Its body was bound together by the disgusting things and soon, it was being eaten to death. And if Dragon wasn't a bird, then he would have to say that the scene was like a picture of hell. He almost felt sorry for the crow as it quickly died. The millions of many-legged creatures receded and in waves went back to whatever hiding place they had came out of.

Exhausted, Dragon mentally thanked them and flew back to Chief. There was a bunch of fruit seeds around him. Dragon blinked,

"Asshole." Chief sheepishly scratched his cheek with a wing,

"Sorry, dude, it was too tempting. I couldn't resist a bite."

"A bite? More like a hundred. You could have helped me out you know."

"Looked like you got it all under control. Let's just forget about this and go back."

"Yeah, let me go back home as a human… Back to reality."

"…" Chief whipped around and curiously glanced at Dragon, "Eh? Couldn't you already go back to reality?"

"What?"

"After all, all this is just a dream. To go back, you just have to wake up."

"…And the turning-back-to-human-fiasco?"

"Just part of the dream."

"…"

"…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH?"

And Dragon quickly sat up from his bed, sweating profusely. He looked around and saw that he was in his bedroom,

"…It really was just a dream… No way…" And this time, he really did face-palm himself.

_A few hours later_

"Dragon, aren't you going to explore with the others?" Dragon turned his head to see Iva (*) and then faced the East once again. The wind was blowing and he felt like facing his homeland again. He gazed at the beautiful ocean,

"No, I already saw the island." It was true, in a way. Amazingly, the island looked the same as his dream so he felt no real need to look around. Iva studied him a bit, curious as to when the guy had looked around the island as he had been on the ship the entire time. And he was also curious about why he always stared at the East; maybe that's why he told him about the South Birds…

They were so alike. Iva could just imagine him as one.

Both were determined to always face forward in the path that they chose. No matter how many obstacles.

Always moving forward.

* * *

><p>The End<p>

(*)= Sorry, but I didn't feel like putting Iva's accent in there. It's too difficult for a person like me...

A/N: Admittedly, the ending seems sort of rushed... A good idea or alternate way to continue the story refused to appear in my head so it became like that. Though the dream part was sort of intentional from the start. Just look at the previous chapter's title and you'll realize that it has a double meaning. Thanks for reading and those of you who did, reviewing!

...

And if you're bored, then you can read the below for the interpretation of the dream.

Dream Symbols In Dragon's Dream:

Flying: Freedom/the sense of liberty (In dreams, flying gives a sense of being higher than anything else and confidence of overcoming many obstacles in life.)

Crow/"Dragon": The World Government (They are both very big and dangerous and Dragon's main enemy. The common folks can't live happily without the crow (aka WG) being taken down.

Millions of Bugs: The Revolutionary Army (There are many of them and from many places. All seem weak by themself, but together they can defeat even the greatest of enemies. They just need to unite and


End file.
